Deconstructing Gods
by Violet Fairychild
Summary: When the dust settles, will the lines be drawn in the same places? Post X3.
1. Kitty

**Title:** Deconstructing Gods, Chapter 1  
**Author:** Vi (**violetfairygirl** on livejournal)  
**Rating:** PG-13, for this chapter  
**Timeline:** After X3  
**Summary:** When the dust settles, will the lines be drawn in the same places?  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own X-Men, nor am I affiliated with X-Men or Fox Studios in any official capacity. Nor does this make me any money, sadly enough.  
**Author's Note:** This is my stab at sorting out the giant mess that is John and Kitty post-X3. It's going to deal primarily with relationships, namely Kitty and John and Bobby and Rogue. Also, be warned-I might be playing a little fast and loose with the timeline here.  
**WARNINGS:** Angsty! Of course.

The silence was thick as they waited in the office that had once been Professor Charles Xavier's. It belonged to Headmistress Ororo Munroe, now, but there was very little of her in it. A couple of pictures, her nameplate on the desk, and that was all-she hadn't had the time or the heart to change much more than that yet.

Kitty Pryde, Piotr Rasputin, and Bobby Drake sat in front of her, each in a different position but all with the same look of shell-shocked weariness on their young faces. The woman they called Storm ached for them, but at the same time she was relieved at their reaction to their first major battle. It meant they finally understood the enormity of the burden they had chosen to shoulder.

Ororo leaned back against the desk and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could form a coherent sentence Logan opened the door and stepped inside. His eyes were grieving, but his movements reflected none of that-grief could come later. There were too many other things to take care of right now.

Kitty was the first to speak. "Is he still alive?" she asked, voice cracking with exhaustion and emotion.

Logan nodded, but didn't speak. Instead he walked over to the desk Ororo was propped against, and threw a couple of small objects down on it. They rolled slightly before coming to a rest against the brass nameplate stand.

Pete and Bobby recognized them right away, closing their eyes and exhaling sighs of mixed relief and regret.

"What are those?" Kitty asked, a hint of panic rising in her throat. Logan picked up one of the little cylinders and tossed it at her. She caught it easily, and turned it over in her hands.

There wasn't much to it-a number stamped into the plastic along the side, a small opening at one end that looked like something had been snapped off.

Then Kitty saw the tiny logo for Worthington Industries under the number, and she realized what it was she held. She froze, and it slipped from her fingers and landed in her lap, the hole where a needle had once been affixed staring up at her like a single accusing eye.

"Oh, god." Kitty looked up again at Logan. "Did they-did it-"

He nodded. "One in the back of his neck, one in his side just under his ribs."

She stood up, knees shaking in a way they hadn't since she first started her training sessions in the Danger Room. "I have to see him."

Bobby and Piotr looked up at her in horror. "Kitty, he tried to kill us," Bobby said. "Don't be stupid."

"He tried to kill _you_," Kitty muttered, "and you went back for him anyway. Don't call me stupid."

"Kitty, let Dr. MacTaggert finish-" Logan started, but she was already gone, phasing through everything that stood between her and John Allerdyce.

XXXX

He was so still, so pale. In sleep his features had relaxed from their usual unwavering hardness, making him look even younger than she knew he was. He was shirtless, clad only in a pair of loose-fitting gray pants, and Kitty could see bruises beginning to form from the battering he had taken in the chaos.

Her eyes followed the length of his arms, and she winced when she caught sight of the restraints that bound his wrists. Necessary, she knew, but a harsh reminder of exactly which side he'd been on.

Moira MacTaggert strode into the room, raising an eyebrow at Kitty's presence but hardly seeming surprised. "Come to check on the patient?"

"We fought before he left," Kitty said, not really caring that Dr. MacTaggert would have no idea what she was talking about. "I called him a coward. Asked if he was going to hide behind his lighter all his life."

The older woman may not have known what she was referring to, but she understood the sentiment behind it. "We make our own choices, Kitty," she said quietly. "No one else gets to take responsibility for them."

A tear slid off Kitty's cheek and landed on John's forearm. "Is he going to be okay?"

"That would depend on your definition of 'okay', but physically, he should have a full recovery." The doctor's eyes landed on the bandage just under his ribs. "As full as it could be, now." Kitty nodded, and the silence turned awkward. "If you'll excuse me, Kitty, I have to finish up my work here before I have to get on a plane in a day and a half." Her tone was lighthearted, but it did little to disguise the exhaustion in her voice.

Dr. MacTaggert left the room, and Kitty looked for a chair. Finding none, she leaned against the wall by the door and slid down it slowly to sit vigil on the floor.

Despite her racing thoughts, sleep was quick to overtake her.

XXXX

_He sees it coming just a second too late; feels the heat at his palms fizzle as icy hands catch his wrists, sees Bobby's translucent head rushing at his face. Hears his old friend's voice, dark with anger and grief._

_"You never should have left."_

_Now it's dark, cold and dark but he can still feel Bobby's hands holding down his arms, and now his feet, and he knows he has to get up because the world is being washed away mere yards from where he lies._

_But Bobby won't let go of his wrists or his feet, and now everything is being broken down into dust and ashes, and he can't move, he can't run..._

"NO!" He burst out of his dream like he was surfacing after almost drowning, lungs heaving and limbs fighting against the restraints on his wrists and ankles with every ounce of strength he had left. His fingers curled, clawing at air, then burrowed into his palms as his hands contracted into fists. The white and silver boxes of equipment around him gave shrill warning shrieks.

Kitty came to bleary consciousness at his scream, yanked from her own restless dreams into John's waking nightmare. Before she could gather her wits enough to yell for help, Dr. MacTaggert and Logan rushed into the room.

"I'll get his leg!" Logan put a hand over one knee and a hand on John's hip, holding at least that portion of his body still. It was an effort, despite Logan's strength.

The doctor plunged a syringe into his upper thigh and he gave a strangled gasp, and Kitty could see his hands slowly relax and open as his breathing slowed. Dr. MacTaggert stroked his hair maternally, lips pursed as she crooned reassuring noises over him.

Logan and the doctor turned to find Kitty standing in the doorway, arms crossed tight over her torso as though she were trying to keep her organs from tumbling out.

"What did you give him?" The question was quiet but firm, and the feeling behind it was clear: no more needles. No more quick fixes.

"It's just a mild sedative, Kitty. Just to keep him from hurting himself." Dr. MacTaggert wouldn't meet her eyes as she left the room.

Kitty turned accusing eyes on Logan, who made no pretense of caring about the general wellbeing of her former classmate. "We need to know what he knows, Kitty."

"So he's just here as a prisoner of war, then." A quiver shimmied out of her throat on the word 'prisoner'. "I thought the war was over."

"Maybe it is." Logan met her gaze and held it. "But it takes a lot of time to rebuild. Even without obstacles."

Kitty narrowed her eyes and phased through him to stand next to John again. He was sleeping once more, his face relaxed from the horrible contortions it had been twisted into. "We're just kids." The words sounded ridiculous even to her.

"Not anymore." She didn't turn to watch him leave; only listened to his footsteps retreat down the hall.

The tears came quietly as they always did, rolling down her face like rain.

_Not anymore._


	2. Disquiet

Consciousness was swift and slow like molasses all at the same time, his senses suddenly alert and sending their crazed signals to a brain that couldn't quite shake off all the lint from the dryer cycle it had just come out of. There was no panicked thrashing this time, though that surely wasn't by choice; his limbs felt heavy and numb, and it took all his concentration just to wiggle his fingers.

The movement brought an odd sensation to his wrists that reminded him of wearing a shirt with too-small cuffs, a chafing that felt unnatural enough to make him lift his arms to investigate. When his arms wouldn't lift, John took a deep breath and lifted his head to peer at the disloyal body below his neck.

Seeing the restraints doused his synapses with cold water, washing away the fuzziness that remained and flooding his throat with anguished screams.

_-I can't-I can't…oh god, find the flame, it has to be there somewhere-_

Even reaching out with every fiber of his soul found nothing familiar, only an empty silent _nonentity_ that he'd never felt before…not anything, not the latent buzz of the electricity that crackled in everything, waiting to spark, not the deep heaviness of the rivers of liquid rock that flowed hundreds of miles underneath, so hot he couldn't help but feel it in his bones.

The emptiness was so wide and deep it had only one explanation, the explanation that John's frantic mind rejected again and again, but still it demanded to be heard no matter how loud he screamed. _You're not one of us anymore._

He pulled air violently into his lungs, feeling it rip through his raw throat, but even the threat of losing his voice wasn't enough to keep the word from exploding out of his mouth.

"_**TRAITORS!"**_

XXXX

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kitty snapped at Headmistress Munroe, having slammed open the door to the office for effect rather than phasing through it. "He's been up since yesterday morning and Logan tells me five minutes ago?"

Storm was on her feet in an instant, ready to defend her decision. "We knew you would want to see him, and we didn't feel it would have b-"

"Did Bobby and Pete know?" Kitty narrowed her eyes at the taller woman.

"Yes."

"But nobody told me." She shook her head in disbelief. "I thought I was part of the team."

"And teammates protect each other." The headmistress held up a hand, cutting off Kitty's rebuttal. "You have to know that John-he's not taking it well-"

"Would you?" Her voice was incredulous. "You're telling me I can't see him because he woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"

Heaving a dark sigh, Storm gestured Kitty over to her desk where she could see the screen of the computer monitor that had taken up residence there. A few mouse clicks and suddenly the screen was filled with a figure writhing on a bed, ankles and wrists wrapped in leather. Furious screams and obscenities intermingled with graphic threats emanated from the speakers.

Kitty closed her eyes and pressed a hand over her mouth. "Turn it off," she mumbled.

"He's been like this since he woke up," Storm said softly. "Every now and then he settles down for half an hour or so, but every attempt we've made to talk with him sets him off again."

"So you're just going to keep him tied up in the basement like an animal?"

Storm's silence was a painful affirmative, and Kitty once again slammed the office door as she flew out of the room, angry tears brimming at the corners of her eyes.

XXXX

It seemed like months had passed since Rogue had left, but Bobby knew it was only days. A couple of weeks, at the most, but he didn't dare count them out on his calendar. If he had an exact number, it would be all he could focus on during his waking hours.

He'd thought maybe she wouldn't come back, maybe now that she could touch anyone she wanted that she wouldn't want him anymore. In the dark, before he fell asleep at night, he wondered what kind of man he was; if he would be happy to see her or if he would turn her away.

He turned himself inside out and upside down, but no matter which way he looked at it, all he saw was doubt. He doubted her, he doubted himself, his feelings, his own convictions.

Then when he found her sitting on the edge of his bed, looking at him with fearful hope in her eyes, most of his doubts slipped away with his breath as it fled from his lungs.

"_This isn't what I wanted."_

"_It's what _I _wanted."_

They stayed in his room that night, despite the disapproving looks he drew from Storm and Logan when he told them where she'd be. Typically it would have bothered him to think he'd let them down somehow, but hey-he was old enough to buy cigarettes and lotto tickets and save the world. Bobby figured he was allowed, if not downright entitled, to be intimate with the girl he loved whom he had never been able to touch until now. And screw the grownups.

XXXX

Rogue was asleep at last, her moon-colored streak tracing a pale river through the spill of her dark hair over the pillowcase. They had lain together for hours, not even needing to move, the press of skin to skin a thrilling enough novelty for them both. Her slender fingers had traced the outlines of his face like a map, following the same route over and over again until she was familiar with the path of his brows and the curve of his jaw line. Finally her fingers had halted in their meandering journey, and Bobby opened his eyes to the vision of her in serene slumber, peaceful and adorned with nothing more than a line of starlight down the length of her body from the edge of the blinds.

Careful not to disturb her, Bobby pulled on a pair of pajama pants and padded towards the stairs, hoping a drink and some fresh air would help clear his head of the buzz of activity that had been a recurring presence over the last few weeks.

Walking out the French doors onto the small courtyard nestled into the mansion just past the kitchen, Bobby found that he wasn't the only one avoiding sleep. Kitty sat on the stone wall that edged the patio, clad in shorts and a T-shirt. Her hands rested in her lap, and in them she clutched a beer bottle that was open but still mostly full. Bobby made as much noise as he could to avoid startling her, but Kitty didn't so much as glance up at his presence.

Setting his can of soda up on the wall, Bobby hopped up to join her. "No sleep for you either?"

Kitty shook her head. "Rogue doing okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she's doing okay. Better than okay." He gestured at the bottle in her lap. "Guess we're all doing our part to turn the mansion into a house of sin tonight."

"It tastes like urine. I don't know how anyone could actually enjoy this stuff." Despite her less than glowing review, she lifted the bottle and tilted her head back to take another swig, grimacing as it went down.

"I hear it's an acquired taste." They were silent for a while, listening to the sounds of the crickets and the gentle whisper of a breeze as it made the leaves around them shudder. Looking over at his forlorn teammate, Bobby felt a twinge of guilt. "I'm sorry, Kitty."

She turned her head to fix him with a confused stare. "For what?"

It was a valid question. To be perfectly honest, there was quite a lot he should be sorry for. "We shouldn't have kept it from you. I mean, we were worried about you, but…it wasn't right."

"No kidding." Another swig of beer, another wrinkle of her nose.

"Have you tried to see him yet?"

"No." Kitty turned her eyes downward, let out a soft snort. "Now I'm afraid to go see him."

"I don't blame you." Bobby's snort matched hers. "And I thought he was bitter before he left." Shaking his soda can to ensure it was empty, he jumped down off the wall and offered Kitty a hand. "Ready to head in?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm gonna stay out a little longer. Tell Rogue I said welcome back."

"Sure. 'Night, Kitty."

"Goodnight, Bobby."

Despite his pleasure at sliding back into bed with his girl (who smiled in her sleep and wrapped an arm around his chest), Bobby couldn't help but feel a dark disquiet that followed him into a restless sleep full of dreams about ashes and hurtling down into a never-ending abyss.


	3. Incarceration

…_he sailed off through night and day and in and out of weeks…_

"What?" Things had gone black again. Or maybe they had gone white, or purple, or aquamarine. "Who's there?"

"Where the wild things are, John. Isn't that where you went?" Kitty stood at his bedside, appearing out of thin air, glowering down at him. "Did they gnash their terrible teeth at you?"

"Kitty, what the fuck-" the words stopped as he realized his wrists were no longer bound. Sitting up with a start, John held his hands up in front of him, staring at then as though he could tell if he was different by the way they looked. The familiar calluses and lines gave nothing away. "Did you do this?" he asked, returning her glare.

"You mean, did I _cure_ you?" The way her upper lip curled over the words was unpleasant, un-Kitty. "No, I didn't. If you want someone to blame, though, you should start with Bobby, since he's the one who took you down. Or maybe Professor Xavier, for taking you in." Her teeth gleamed white, flashing in the light as she spat words at him. "Hell, why stop there? Your father's the one who kicked you out, right? It's just as much his fault. And what about the mother who abandoned you?"

"You shut up about my mother." John grabbed her by the shoulders, pulled her to him with a snarl.

…_my mother…_

Something still didn't sit right. Not just Kitty, but what she was saying…

"I never told you about my parents." From this close, John could see that Kitty's hair was a light sandy blond, which meant she wasn't Kitty at all, and he could see that now by the shape of her face and the light hazel green of her eyes…

"Really, Johnny? Is your life that shameful?" He shoved her away and she was Kitty again, blinked and she was his mother again. "Me and Kitty…do you know what an Oedipus complex is, John?" The words infuriated him, and he lunged for her and landed face down on a cold, hard tile floor.

Pain throbbed through his nose as he struggled to sit up, bringing his hand to his face to check for blood. When he was convinced his nose wasn't bleeding or broken he looked up to confront his mother again, but she was gone. Not only was she gone, but the room he was in was not the room he thought he'd been in, and the realization dawned on him that he'd been having a very vivid dream. The only detail that gave him pause was the lack of restraints that had let him throw himself off the cot behind him, and John would have figured he was lost in another dream had he not caught sight of Logan standing on the other side of the glass barrier that boxed him in.

When John raised his head to look directly at him, Logan pushed a button next to the door and spoke into a microphone that jutted just above it. "Nice to see you up and about," he said in a tone that made it clear he didn't actually find it very nice at all.

John didn't bother to greet him. "Where the hell am I?"

"You're still at the mansion, if that's what you're wondering. We just moved you into the deluxe suite." Wary brown eyes swept the inside of the sterile cell. "Cozy, ain't it?"

"What're you, the warden?"

"No, I just drew the short straw when we decided who would come check on you first." Logan let go of the button, started to leave, then stopped and pressed it again. "You need some ice for your nose?"

The dig was not lost on him, and he scowled up at his "host". "_No_."

Even without the intercom, John could have sworn he heard Logan laughing to himself all the way down the hall.

XXXX

"He's fine," Logan announced as he walked into the office. "Hasn't lost his ability to be a little prick, at least."

Bobby laughed out loud at the comment, but stifled it when Kitty shot him a dirty look and cleared his throat. "So who talks to him first?"

Kitty, Logan and Storm all spoke at the same time. "I will."

The two senior staff protested in tandem. "I don't think that's a good idea-" "You're not trained to deal with him-"

"I don't want to do the interrogation," Kitty said with a quiet intensity that hushed the room in an instant. "I just want to talk to him."

"What, you want to try to gain his trust?" Logan's eyebrows had assumed their "cynical" position. "I hate to break it to you, but you're not gonna have much luck."

"He has a right to know what's going to happen to him." Kitty fixed her gaze on her superiors like a laser sight. "Maybe you should both start having a little trust in _me_."

Storm turned her attention to Bobby and Pete, who had been observing the exchange like a couple of tennis spectators, heads bouncing back and forth. "Do either of you have any objections?"

Bobby opened his mouth, but Pete elbowed him in the side, a little harder than was necessary. Doubling over in pain, Bobby shook his head. "No," he managed to gasp. Pete shook his head in agreement.

"Okay, then," Kitty said, and dropped through the floor before Bobby could recover.

XXXX

John didn't turn around when she dropped down behind him; he didn't have to. "Get out."

"There's some things I have to tell you," she said, ignoring his request. "It's important."

"I don't want anything from you." His hands were nervous, trying to hide in pockets that didn't exist, smoothing his hair over and over again, and adjusting the hem of his prison-style smock. As much as he hated to admit it, his lighters were more than just a source of fire for him. "Get out."

"The government knows you're here. They think you're still in a coma," Kitty explained to the back of his head. "If you can give us any information on Magneto, the Brotherhood, anything-we might have something to bargain for your life with."

"What?" John turned to face her, shock flaring across his face for just a second before he hid it again.

"Magneto launched an attack on American soil, against American soldiers, John. That's enough to arrest you for treason." A lump rose in the back of her throat, and she fought to finish. "That's enough to have you _executed_ for treason."

"Oh, that's rich. The blood traitors are accusing me of _treason._" Bitter laughter punctuated his sentence. "They gonna kill every mutant who was there that night?"

"No. Just you." Kitty didn't bother to pull any punches.

"You kidding me? There were hundreds of us there, all of us with the same goal, and I'm the one who gets sent up the river for it?" His voice had begun to rise in panic. "What about the old man himself? What about Callisto?"

"Callisto is already dead. Magneto dropped off the face of the earth, a good half of the Brotherhood was killed in combat, and the other half were depowered or don't know enough to be worth spit." Kitty's eyes were beginning to blaze with anger, and John knew it wasn't all directed at him. "Congratulations, Pyro, you're the whipping boy."

When he didn't respond, she continued. "Dr. McCoy's been negotiating the terms of your incarceration here for the last two days straight. He's the reason you're still here at all. The feds wanted to take you into their custody as soon as you woke up." Kitty looked down at the ground. "That's why we haven't told them yet. Dr. McCoy is trying to get them to agree to keep you here for your interrogation. He's also pushing for a full psychiatric evaluation and possible rehabilitation therapy."

"I didn't know he cared so much. You can tell him I'm grateful for his concern, but if I'm headed for the chair I'd rather it happen sooner than later."

"It's not just about you. He doesn't want this to turn into a witch hunt. If the pro-mutant rights activists got wind of what was going on, they'd be outraged." Holding up a hand, Kitty shook her head. "You know what, I don't even know why I'm telling you this. It's not like you care about anyone but yourself."

"Do you think I deserve to die?" The words were quiet, free of the poisonous sarcasm that permeated his everyday speech.

She thought carefully before she responded. "You've killed people."

"They were drones following orders."

"They were people fighting for what they believed in."

"Then they should have been prepared to die." John sat back down on his cot, swung his feet up and lay back with his hands behind his head.

"Were you prepared to die?"

"I never said I wasn't." He wouldn't meet her eyes. "What about you, Kitty? What do you believe in?"

It was several long moments before she answered. "Doing what's right."

John scoffed at the ceiling. "Bullshit. You believe in self-preservation, just like anyone else."

"I wouldn't mindlessly sacrifice myself, no….but the world is bigger than just me. I'd never let anyone die if I could do something about it."

Finally he looked her directly in the eyes. "You're telling me that if you had to die to save the life of someone you hated-no, someone who hated _you_, you'd do it?"

"If I thought it was the right thing to do? Yes." She nodded.

He shook his head from his mock carefree position, turned his eyes back to the ceiling. "And you people think I'm the crazy one."

Careful not to disrupt the lock system in place on the door, Kitty phased out of the room, hardly noticing a thing around her as she tried to sort out the thoughts that whirled in her head, spinning around the hub of confusion that had taken root there.

_Maybe I am crazy. _


	4. Civility

Author's Note: Just so no one can complain that I didn't give them fair warning, I'm continuing the movieverse tradition of grabbing random characters from comic canon and using them where I see fit. Hopefully I don't butcher anyone's character too horribly in the process.

"You understand, Dr. McCoy, how much this administration is risking in letting you set these terms." The President of the United States templed his fingers on the desk in front of him, trying to conceal the anxiety that had been trying to suffocate him for the last two weeks.

"I do indeed, Mr. President." Resisting the urge to backflip with joy over his success, Dr. Henry McCoy instead adjusted his reading glasses and began to browse through the inches-deep pile of documents in front of him outlining the conditions of the Xavier Institute's internment of St. John Allerdyce. "There's a lot at risk for everyone involved. Have you released a statement to the public yet?"

"No, we've kept a tight cover on this. If the public knew we had in our custody one of the higher ranking members of the Brotherhood, they'd be screaming for blood."

"Which is exactly the reason I've asked for these terms. It is imperative that young Mr. Allerdyce's fate be decided by his peers. Allowing the public to influence this process would set mutant rights back three decades."

"The people want justice, Hank."

"The people want a scapegoat, Mr. President. And your scapegoat could be Magneto's martyr."

"According to your people, Magneto's been neutralized."

"He's been cured, yes." Hank flinched at his own casual usage of the term. "But do you really think that will keep him quiet for long? If anything, it may make him more determined in his crusade."

"Then I hope your boy can give us something before that happens." The leader of the free world fixed a stern gaze on him. "We're playing by your rules on this one, but make no mistake, we're playing to win."

"With all due respect, sir, I would appreciate it if you refrained from referring to this situation as a game." They locked eyes, Hank feeling a small surge of satisfaction when the president nodded.

"My apologies, Dr. McCoy. I didn't intend to sound as though I were making light of things." The words were stiff but sincere.

"Apology accepted. Have you determined who will be handling the investigation?"

"We had intended to have Executive Director Fury handle the case personally, but the backlash from the Cure Weapon scandal was greater than we expected. He'll be announcing his resignation tomorrow."

"Fury, resigning?" Hank's blue brow crinkled in concern. "Who's been appointed to succeed him?"

"Agent Hill. You're familiar with her, I'm sure."

"Yes, I am." He tried to keep his voice neutral, but a sinister note snuck its way past.

Hearing what Hank wasn't saying, the president tried to reassure him. "She's been an integral part of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the last ten years, Hank. We've all heard the rumors, but there isn't a scrap of evidence to support them."

"Rumors aside, I'm not certain this isn't a ploy to pry S.H.I.E.L.D loose from Fury's iron reign, and in turn, from Fury's previous allies," Hank said quietly. "Allies like myself and the X-Men."

"It's not about loyalties," he replied. "First and foremost my duty lies with the country. I am not going to let playground politics interfere with a fair investigation and, if needed, trial by jury. I thought you of all people would agree with the sentiment that if mutants are to become an accepted part of society, they must adhere to the same laws as any other American citizen."

"And I do agree. But in looking at the big picture, we can't ignore the fact that we are setting a precedent here." Hank took off his glasses and looked the president directly in the eye. "I hope you realize that a second Civil War is a very real possibility."

"If I hadn't, I would be unfit for this position, Hank."

After a somber silence, Hank reluctantly changed the subject. "Now, there is the matter of a mental assessment. I've already got someone in mind."

XXXX

This time when Kitty phased through the ceiling, John didn't tell her to get out. In fact, he didn't talk to her at all, instead keeping his back to her as he lay on his side on the cot. She might even have thought him asleep if the slight irregularity of his breathing hadn't given him away.

"I have good news, John. Dr. McCoy got you a fair shake." As expected, she got no response. "As fair a shake as you're going to get, anyway. We get to keep a close eye on the whole process, and they're doing the assessment first-"

"To see if I'm mentally sound?" Finally he rolled towards her to rest on his elbows, his eyes openly hostile. "So I'm either evil incarnate or a fucking loon. Which would you rather I be?"

"Do you really care that much about what I think of you?" Last night had been the first good night's sleep in weeks, and it gave her the strength to return his attack.

"No, but you keep telling me, so I might as well take an interest." His words cut deep, and Kitty actually flinched before she iced over again.

"I'm actually down here to ask what you'd like for lunch," she said frostily. "I get to play waitress for you, since I'm the only one who can get in and out of here without having to take twenty minutes to reset all the locks."

"You mean I get to see you every day?" His smirk was harder than she remembered it, sharper. "It's a dream come true."

"Shut up, John," she said wearily, and something like hurt flashed in his irises. "D'you want a burger or pasta?"

At the mention of food, his stomach let out an audible growl. "A burger," he mumbled. She continued to stare him down. "_Please,_" he ground out from between gritted teeth.

"I'll be down with that in twenty minutes," Kitty said haughtily, and exited the same way she had entered.

"I think your real mutant power is being really fucking annoying," he shouted through the ceiling after her.

XXXX

With John's burger being prepared in the kitchen, Kitty made her way to the headmistresses' office to plead for a break from their surly charge. She could hear the fierce bite in Storm's voice before she even made it down the hall-the office was soundproof, but all the sound dampening in the world wouldn't help with the door left open. "…most irresponsible, rash decision Hank's ever-" Her words were cut off with the sharp slam of the door. Sliding silently down the hall, Kitty phased her head just deep enough into the wall that her ear was against the wood paneling on the other side of the Acoustiblok.

"Relax, Ororo. Hank says she's the best in her field." There was something that just didn't sound right about Logan's voice, until Kitty realized he was trying to be the voice of reason. _Now _that's_ something I thought I'd never hear_, she thought dryly to herself.

"Best in her field? Only if the field you're referring to is being a manipulative bitch." There was a sharp _thump_ that Kitty could only guess was the headmistress rearranging her desk in frustration. "You have _no idea_ what that woman's done, Logan! Not just to me, but to some of these students! To Kitty!"

At the mention of her name, Kitty's blood ran cold. There were not many instances in her young life that Storm could be referring to, and the thought of one in particular twisted her stomach into violent knots.

"Hank gave me some background info. It's not pretty, but according to the furball she's a changed woman. She's got family ties to this place. If anything he's hoping her past will debunk any talk that it's all just a big X-Men cover-up."

"She could be controlling everything he's saying, Logan! She's a telepath, for god's sake!"

Kitty could take it no longer-she burst through the wall completely, to the astonishment of Ororo and the amusement of Logan. "I was wondering when you were finally going to interrupt us," the latter remarked.

"She's not coming here." Kitty's cheeks were flushed, her hands clenched in fists at her sides. "Storm, you can't let that woman come here."

Storm looked a bit lost for a moment, unsure of whether she should present a unified front with the other designated grownup on the team and feel like a hypocrite, or assure the younger girl that she would keep the creature of her nightmares a safe distance away. "Kitty-you know I feel the same way, but I don't know if I can do anything about it- "

"You'd be endangering everyone at this school! I swear to god, if you let her through those doors I will poison her tea-"

She was interrupted by a knock at the door, and then Bobby poked his head in. Kitty and Ororo whipped their heads around to glare at him. "_What?_" they snapped in unison.

"Um-burger's ready?" Looking back and forth between the occupants of the room, Bobby decided a quick escape was probably his best option. "I'll come back later."

Kitty gave Storm one last dirty look before leaving the room. "I'm going to go give John his lunch and, oh yeah, warn him that his brain's about to be probed by a sociopath," she muttered, phasing through the floor before either adult could reprimand her behavior.

Storm looked almost ready to cry, but a glance at Logan revealed his true feelings about the situation. "I thought _I_ was the one with the claws."1

1 _Astonishing X-Men _#3


	5. Faith

Resentment radiated off of Kitty in waves so strong that other students she passed gave her a wide berth-unusual for a group that was used to her intangibility. Despite having the option of stomping through the mansion without disturbing so much as a thread of carpet, she remained solid all the way from the kitchen to John's cell, slamming everything she possibly could in between.

She was getting used to seeing John's back-somehow he always managed to have it to her. Though this time when she phased herself through the panes of his see-through prison, he finally turned to face her before she spoke.

He greeted her with "God, I'm _starving_," and dove into his meal almost before Kitty could set it down. She settled herself on the end of his cot while he ate, hoping to delay the inevitable.

Halfway through his burger, John realized Kitty was still in the room with him, and that she was not a happy camper. "So when's the funeral?"

She looked up as though she had forgotten he was there. "Whose funeral?"

"You look like someone just died. I hope it was Bobby." He used his thumb to wipe away a smudge of ketchup at the corner of his mouth.

"What the hell happened with you two, anyway?" Kitty was more than happy to change the subject.

"Rogue make it back?" It was John's turn to change the subject.

"Yeah, she showed up a couple of days ago." She raised an eyebrow in inquiry. "Why do you care?"

"No reason." Handing her the empty tray, he gave her a wolfish grin. "Hope you weren't expecting a tip."

XXXX

_Next time,_ Bobby thought to himself, _I'm keeping my big mouth shut._

Last month he had finished an extensive self-study course on lock mechanics with an emphasis on electronic devices. Eager to utilize his newfound wealth of knowledge, Bobby had been the first to volunteer when Logan had asked which of them wanted to help him with the pre-inspection prep of John's cell. He didn't realize until much later that the inspection included not only debugging the program failsafe and combing over the permissions parameters with a fine-tooth comb, but also an actual, physical inspection of the locks in place.

Which was how he found himself standing outside the cell of his former friend, trying to ignore the look on John's face that reminded him of a coyote that had cornered its meal.

"I guess Bobby's a _big boy_ now, huh?" The intercom system that had been installed could be turned on and off by anyone trying to patch themselves into the room from the outside, but from inside the room it was kept on by default, leaving Bobby wide open to John's poisonous jabs. "Putting all that book learnin' to good use?"

Bobby desperately wanted to open the door and wipe the smirk off of his smug face, but a warning look from Logan made it clear that he was being watched just as closely as John was. Trying to let the comment roll off his back, he set his jaw and stared intently at the wiring Logan was inspecting for disrepair.

"We'll be out of here in a few minutes," Logan said, before Bobby could ask how much longer he was going to have to take John's abuse. "The people they're sending out actually know what they're doing, we're just checking for the big holes."

"So I hear Rogue's back," their prisoner piped up again, almost sounding conversational. "Make sure you tell her I said thanks."

Another look from Logan wasn't enough to keep him from mashing down the intercom button with his fist. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, she didn't tell you? I found her after I ran into you at that clinic. After she'd already gotten the cure." His smirk spread, revealing the points of his canines. "She let me take her for a little test drive. You're a lucky man, Bobby."

Before he could react, Logan was on his feet, yanking Bobby's fist off the button, hands on his arms in an iron-tight grip. "He's bullshitting. Don't let him get to you, Bobby."

Ignorant of the reassurance Logan was trying to give, John continued his goading. "Ask her to do that thing with her hips sometime. You won't regret it."

A bolt of cold shot from Bobby's hands, pelting against the thick glass between them and creating a furious sheet of angry-patterned frost as John howled with laughter.

"_Iceman!_" Logan shook him just hard enough to hurt, and the ice stopped coming. "You're not gonna get through bulletproof glass. Now put it away," he snarled.

When he was satisfied that Bobby wouldn't try anything else, Logan released his grip and reached for the panel that fit over the lock wiring. "Get upstairs," he ordered.

Bobby obediently headed for the elevator that would take him out of the sub basement, John's mocking laughter ringing in his ears.

XXXX

He found Rogue in the rec room, sprawled along a sofa reading a magazine. Smiling up at him, she pulled her legs up closer to her chest to make room for him to sit down, and he acquiesced without complaint. "Inspection go all right?"

"Yeah. Everything looks good." Bobby's smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

She rose to a sitting position beside him, tossing the magazine aside and resting a hand on his thigh. "You don't sound as excited about that as I thought you'd be." Her hair spilled over her shoulder as she tilted her head. "Logan givin' you a hard time?"

"No, he was great." His arms didn't find their way around her waist like they usually did. "I have to ask you something."

"Okaaay…" The look on her face felt familiar-it was not unlike the look she used to get when his hands strayed a little too close to her bare skin.

"You didn't run into John, at all, did you? After you got the…" Why was it still so hard to say out loud? "…Afterwards?"

Rogue shook her head, eyes puzzled. "No. I know he hit a couple of clinics, but I don't think he got the one I went to…why are you starin' at me like that?"

His smile was genuine this time. "Sorry, it's stupid. He was heckling me, that's all."

"About me?" She'd started to relax, but her face tensed up again at his remark. "What'd he say?"

This situation was not progressing the way Bobby had imagined it. She was supposed to say "No, I didn't see him" and then he would wrap her up in a hug and the world would be right again. Nowhere in his plans was there a part where she sat glaring at him until tiny beads of sweat formed and immediately froze along his hairline.

He shifted uncomfortably, wiping away the bit of frost that had formed on his forehead. "Nothing, just being crude, you know…par for the course for John."

"Bein' crude." Her eyes narrowed. "What did he say, Bobby?"

"He said-" The damage was done-his only chance now was to find a choise of words that wouldn't set her off. "He tried to tell me that he slept with you. But I didn't believe him," he added hastily.

"But you asked me if I saw him."

"I wanted to hear it from you, that's all."

"So you did believe him."

"I'm telling you I didn't." His eyes were desperate, pleading. _Please don't do this._

"Then you wouldn't have asked!" She practically leaped off the sofa, pressing her hand down on his leg for leverage and pushing hard enough that he winced. "This is unbelievable. You don't trust me."

Bobby stood to look her in the eye. "I trust you!"

Her mouth dropped open a little in shock. "If you trusted me, then when John told you he slept with me you would have laughed in his face. I didn't ask you about Kitty after I got back."

He blinked, startled. "What about Kitty?"

"Oh, maybe just the hours a day you were spendin' with her." She rolled her eyes. "Or all the attention you were payin' to her, asking her to come along with us places, takin' her ice skating-"

"How did you know about that?" His voice had gone quiet and intense again, and Rogue looked at him in surprise.

"I saw you," she said, feeling strangely guilty. "Out my window. The night I left."

The two of them stared at each other for suffocating minutes, until Rogue pushed her way past him out of the rec room. "I need some air."

Bobby watched her go, but when he could no longer see her he headed back to the basement, hoping a couple of hours in the Danger Room would silence the nagging doubts that had come roaring back.


	6. Tolerance

The day had already started on a sour note, and Emma Frost was not looking forward to the one appointment she had for the day.

As if it wasn't enough to awaken to find that a pipe had broken in her master bath-flooding it and the adjoining study, and rendering her shower unusable-she had been contacted at the last possible minute by Dr. McCoy to inform her of the location where she would have to give her assessment of Mr. Allerdyce.

"_If I didn't know better, Henry, I might think you rather enjoy yanking me around like this."_

"_If I were a lesser man, Ms. Frost, I might say that I do."_

Emma shook her head with the smallest of smiles. Unpleasant though she found it, a visit to Charles' school wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to her. It had been months since she'd seen her girls, and she would finally have her chance to pay her respects to the dead.

All her efforts to think positive were made null and void by the negativity emanating from the massive building before her. Pressing the fingertips of one hand lightly against her temple, Emma slid from the white limousine and strode up the steps to the mansion's front entrance, trying to maintain a professional veneer. _Honestly, Charles, couldn't you have taught your people how to keep their minds to themselves?_

Pressing the doorbell set off an elaborate chime and a small wave of nausea, the latter of which was explained when a petite dark-haired girl opened the door. Raking over Emma with the blackest of looks, she closed the door again without saying a word.

It was opened again a few moments later by a tall boy with bright blue eyes. "You must be Ms. Frost," he said warmly, extending his hand to shake hers. "I'm Bobby Drake, and this is-" Bobby glanced over his shoulder at the girl sulking behind him.

"Miss Pryde and I are already well acquainted. Bobby. Aren't we, Katherine?" She flashed a saccharine smile at Kitty, whose thoughts turned downright jagged.

He stepped aside and held the door open to allow her to enter, Kitty remaining at Bobby's side as she glared at the interloper. Resisting the impulse to give the girl a sudden migraine, Emma turned from her foul expression to follow Bobby to Ororo's office.

XXXX

"While I appreciate the pretense of hospitality, Ms. Munroe, I must tell you that I would much rather dispense with the pleasantries and get right down to business."

_Some things never change_, Ororo thought to herself as she appraised the woman in front of her. If there was anything she could admire about Emma Frost, it was her ability to cut straight to the heart of the matter. "Very well then. If you'll have a seat, I'll brief you on his case history and you can-"

"Patient is a post-adolescent male with high level pyrokinetic abilities that manifested at the age of 11. Ran away from an unstable home situation and was headed towards becoming a statistic before Professor Xavier intervened after a particularly gruesome episode involving a loss of control and a couple of most unfortunate 7-11 clerks. Intelligent but belligerent, with a very low tolerance for authority figures and those he perceives as controlling." Emma cocked her head, looking bored. "Shall I continue, or are you satisfied that I've done my homework?"

Ororo said nothing, but telepathy notwithstanding it wasn't hard to determine her mood from the tiny lines that formed around her mouth and between her eyes. "Logan will take you to his holding cell." Her eyes slid between the blond woman and the large, burly man who had stepped into the office sometime during Emma's tirade. "Behave. Please."

It was hard to say which of them she was addressing.

XXXX

At the sight of the woman in the short white skirt and tight white blouse left unbuttoned until it was _just_ this side of decent, John let out a low whistle. "Does this mean I've been a good boy?"

"Can the snark, John, we have work to do." Sitting down in the chair on the other side of the conference nook in his cell, she opened her briefcase-John didn't even know Gucci _made_ briefcases-and pulled out a legal pad, a pen and a small tape recorder. "My name is Emma Frost. I'm the therapist assigned to your case."

"So how much time do we get to spend together? 'Cause I think I feel a mental breakdown coming on." He winked at her, and Emma's lip curled just slightly.

"John, I of all people understand that you are a young human-" his twitch at the word was almost unperceivable- "male with healthy, normal urges, but let me warn you that I lack the compunction of the late Dr. Grey over making…_adjustments_."

"Oh. You're one of _them_." His eyes narrowed, and he turned away. "Session's over. I have the right to…refuse medical attention, or something."

"First things first-I am most certainly _not_ one of 'them'," she stated crisply, surprising John, "and secondly, you don't get to refuse my services. Such is the beauty of your legal system." She flipped to an empty page on her legal pad and gestured to the chair opposite her. "Now please, have a seat and I promise I will make this as painless as possible for the both of us."

He wasn't sure why he believed her-maybe she was in his head already-but John sat down in front of the unflappable Ms. Frost.

XXXX

"You're gonna strain something if you keep carrying on with that look on your face," Logan said as he walked into Kitty's room without knocking. "What gives?"

Kitty looked up from her computer, where she was busy googling _arsenic_, _cyanide_ and _traceable amounts_. In a voice she usually reserved for very small children and dogs, she explained; "A close friend of mine is a cured mutant, an ex-close friend of mine is a terrorist, and a woman who tried to kill all my teachers and turn me into an instrument of evil is downstairs, probably brainwashing the terrorist into killing us all while we sleep."

Logan raised an eyebrow in warning. "Keep it up. We haven't assigned anyone to washing the X-Jet for the next month."

She turned her attention back to the computer monitor. "Better that than playing waitress for Mr. Happypants."

Sighing, her teacher and friend crossed the room to sit on her bed, settling uncomfortably on the fuzzy pink throw that adorned the end. "That what's been bothering you?"

"The whole thing is what's bothering me, Logan! There isn't anything right now that doesn't bother me!" Throwing up her hands in exasperation, Kitty stood up and pushed her chair in with a flourish, then flopped down on her back on the bed next to him. "It's just…I just thought the whole thing would be over when we won."

"Guess we left that part out of the pep talk."

Kitty chuckled in spite of herself. "I guess so."

"Look." Even though Logan was starting to feel a sense of paternal protectiveness towards the younger members of the team, the parental voice still evaded him. "I'm not gonna lie to you, it's not like it's gonna be easy to deal with, and sometimes even when you think you've got it under control it kind of sneaks up on you and overwhelms you…" He looked down at Kitty. "I'm not helping, am I?" She shook her head. "You don't have to deal with it by yourself. Is what I'm trying to say."

"You haven't done this much, have you?"

"How'd you guess?" He reached up to scratch the back of his neck as he stood up. "Anyway, I didn't come in here to start soundin' like a Prozac commercial."

Smiling, Kitty got up off the bed and extended her arms in the international symbol for _give me a hug_, and he wrapped an arm around her as she squeezed his waist. "Thanks, Logan."

The sound of a feminine throat clearing drew their attention to the door, where Rogue stood, hands on hips and a small frown on her face. "Storm sent me to get you," she said, keeping her gaze on Logan. He nodded and left the room, both girls watching him leave.

Rogue looked back for a second, just a second, but it was long enough for Kitty to catch the expression of annoyance on her face before she flounced off. The small balloon of hope that had started to form in her chest deflated.

Kitty sat back down at her desk, maximizing her browser screen and typing in _how to stop inadvertently pissing people off_.

XXXX

"Idiots! Incompetent monkeys, the whole lot of them!" Emma paced the office in fury as she scrolled through the contacts in her cell phone. "How am I supposed to stay somewhere else for the night if I can't even enter the house for necessities?"

Giving the "send" button a vicious jab, she stopped by an end table and tapped a foot impatiently on the floor as she waited for someone to answer. "Yes. My name is Emma Frost, and some of your men were looking at my plumbing today-which is not a double entendre, you ignorant buffoon-and they've just called me to tell me I can't go back into my home for another two days at the soonest. I need you to call them and tell them to let me in long enough to get some of my-yes, I know what 'structural integrity' is, I'm not stupid-do you have any idea what-" Her eyes widened in shock, and she pulled the phone away from her ear to throw it on the sofa. "He hung up on me! Enough, I'm going back there and I'll _make_ them bring out-"

"Emma, you're more than welcome to stay here," Ororo interrupted, contrary to the look in her eyes that implied the opposite. "We have plenty of toiletries, and you're close enough to my size that-"

"No offense, darling, but I wouldn't be caught dead in those ridiculous getups you call a wardrobe." Retrieving the phone off the sofa, Emma started going through her contacts again.

"Aunt Emma!" A trio of voices burst through the door just in front of the three blonde girls they belonged to.

The expression on Emma's face changed instantly, and she dropped the cell phone again. "Girls!" She hugged them each in turn, smiling and pecking them on each cheek. None of them spoke, but suddenly the group burst into laughter on some silent cue.

It wasn't quite the scene Logan had been expecting. "Why aren't they talking? I thought she hadn't seen them in a while."

"They are talking. Just not so we can hear them." Ororo tried not to feel paranoid, but couldn't help but wonder if their simultaneous glee had been at her expense.

"Oh. Just when I thought we were fresh out of telepaths."

Emma smiled one last time at the girls, who looked for all the world like miniature Emmas themselves, and then they left the room still giggling quietly to themselves.

Turning back to her reluctant hosts, Emma's mood was obviously improved from her snit of a few minutes earlier. "On second thought, picking up my belongings would take too much time to be worthwhile. I suppose I can survive for the time being."

"How very grand of you," Ororo mumbled dryly. "I'll show you to a room."


	7. Unease

_Excerpt from unofficial transcript of a session between Dr. Emma Frost and John Allerdyce, tape #1, side B_.

Dr. Frost: I want to talk about the first time your powers manifested.

John: I don't.

DF: I'm already aware of the circumstances involved, John.

J: Then why do we have to talk about it?

DF: Because what happened isn't as important as how you feel about it.

_(Sound of chuckling)_

J: Here we go.

DF: How many other children were with you, John?

J: Twenty-four. _(A pause)_ Twenty-four kids, three parent chaperones, a teacher, six employees, the owner of the building and his goddamned dog.

DF: Is that how many people died?

_(Long silence.)_

J: Everyone but me.

DF: Your parents must have been grateful.

_(More chuckling)_

J: Grateful the police didn't try to pin it on me, maybe.

DF: Did they blame you for it?

J: A restaurant burns to the ground and the sole survivor is the local punk kid who likes to play with fireworks. Wouldn't you?

DF: Was it your fault?

J: No. Not directly. Look, I already did this with the Professor. I had no idea what the hell was happening. Even if it was my powers that kept the fire from going out, everyone in there was dead before the firefighters even made it to the scene. That's what happens when you go on a field trip to a place that's been buying off the fire inspector for the last ten years.

DF: But your abilities go beyond keeping fires from going out. That's what happened, isn't it?

_(Loud bang)_

J: I didn't know it was happening! I ran, and I didn't get burned, and that's all I know, okay? _(Long silence) _I'm done talking about this.

DF: That's fine.

XXXX

"Do you have to stay here the whole time I'm eating? You're making me lose my appetite." John glared at his 'dinner date', who was sitting on his bed, legs crossed.

"Actually, I do," Kitty said, rolling her eyes skyward. "I'm supposed to make sure you don't try to slit your wrists with a spoon, or something."

"So I'm on suicide watch now." He made her want to try and slap some of the smartass out of him.

"It's not like I'm any more excited about being here than you're excited about me being here." The words pulled a faint memory from the edges of her mind.

It seemed that John remembered, too, because he smiled a crooked smile that was softer than any expression his mouth had worn since they had brought him back. "That sounds familiar."

Kitty tried to shake off the nostalgia that pulled at her insides, the tug that made her want to forget the last two years had even happened. "It's from before you hated us."

The smile slid off his face faster than butter down a hot skillet, driving away any lingering feelings of fondness that had surfaced in her. "Yeah, well, fuck you too."

He finished his meal in silence, and didn't look up when she took his tray and left the room.

XXXX

Logan waited half an hour, and when Emma didn't emerge from the garden that surrounded the memorials he put out his cigar and went in after her.

She stood not in front of the Professor's stone, as he'd been expecting, but in front of Scott's. A stiff breeze had started to blow with the setting of the sun, but despite her scant clothing she seemed unperturbed by the drop in temperature.

"I loved him," she answered, though he hadn't asked her, "once upon a time."

"You were a student here." He didn't know what he was trying to prove. Maybe that he belonged here now as much as she used to, that he knew more than she thought he did.

"I know that you know." Her face was serene and harsh at the same time, set like carved marble, but she let her façade break to close her eyes and lower her chin to her chest. "How did it happen?"

"She killed him."

A strange smile touched her lips, and she turned her head to gaze at Jean's stone next to her. "I knew she was no good for him."

Her tone rankled, and he tried to tell himself it was because he didn't believe in speaking ill of the dead. "It's not like he was much good for her either."

"Yes, well, they always were blind to each other's flaws." Smoothing invisible wrinkles from her skirt, Emma turned to him with the same charming smile she'd had when he first saw her. "I think it's just about supper time, isn't it?"

Logan nodded and turned to leave, resisting the impulse to caress the cold granite Jean's name was carved in. Somehow he felt Emma was expecting it, and he didn't want to give her the satisfaction.

XXXX

She hadn't spoken to him or even looked at him since their argument, and for once Bobby was at a complete loss. He finally managed to corner her in the kitchen as she washed her plate, approaching her from behind and putting his hands on her arms.

Rogue shook herself from his grasp. "I don't want you touchin' me right now."

"At least it's your choice to make now, right? Yours and mine?" As soon as he said the words he wished he could take them back, erase the bitterness he had voiced.

"I didn't do it for you."

He stared at her back but she continued to rinse dishes, her bare hands rubbing debris away under the suds, and Bobby backed down from the confrontation that she wouldn't let happen.

"I'll be in my room," he said, but she didn't respond.


	8. Intrusion

Considering who had been waiting on the other side of the door when Kitty had opened it the previous day, it was no surprise that she was hesitant to repeat her action when the doorbell chimed at 11 o'clock exactly. She looked through the halls, hoping to find someone to rope into playing butler, but when no one walked by for a full minute and the bell had gone off twice in the interim Kitty pulled the door open with a heart almost as heavy as the carved oak it was made of.

As Kitty assessed the visitor she was grasped by an uneasy surge of déjà vu, though the woman on the other side of the door looked nothing like Emma Frost. Her hair was brunette rather than blond, and her attire was professional but not ostentatious. "May I help you?"

Anti-Emma cracked a cold smile that didn't seem to mesh with the rest of her face. "I'm Agent Hill with S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm here to speak with Headmistress Ororo Munroe." She flashed an important looking badge and ID in front of Kitty before it vanished back into her jacket pocket.

"Is she expecting you?" Badge or no, all of Kitty's working brain cells were sounding warning sirens in her head.

"Not exactly, but she was informed that I would be stopping by this week. I'll need to be shown to her office." Agent Hill's voice had been brusque to start with, and was becoming less pleasant by the second.

Squaring her shoulders, Kitty let her instincts take over. "I'm sorry, but Miss Munroe is a very busy person and can't always be seen by unexpected visitors. She might be more willing to speak with you if I can tell her what you'll be speaking about." Her eyes narrowed. "_Ma'am_."

Hill lifted an eyebrow, and her expression resembled something like respect. "Fine. Please inform Miss Munroe that Agent Maria Hill is here to speak with her about an ongoing investigation."

"But I thought the interrogation wasn't until after he'd been assessed," Kitty blurted, giving herself a mental kick for showing her hand so soon.

"The interrogation isn't, but the investigation began immediately after Dr. McCoy's terms had been approved." Kitty's insight of her reasons for showing up gave her pause, and Hill was wary of revealing any more than she had to.

Backing up just enough to allow the female agent to step inside, Kitty closed the door and retreated up the stairs towards Storm's office with a twisted gut and a sinking heart.

XXXX

Storm and Agent Hall had been in the office with the door locked for almost an hour now, and though Kitty was dying to know what was going on (_There's a joke in there somewhere_, she thought wryly) she managed to refrain from eavesdropping again. Instead she busied herself with minor tasks-alphabetizing her CD collection, cleaning her desk, and now that it was lunchtime grabbing John's tray from the kitchen to deliver his lunch.

"Kitty!" Bobby called to her as she left the kitchen. "Could you do me a huge favor?"

"Bobby, I told you last time I'm not about to plant a hidden camera in the-"

"Nothing like that." He cut her off before she could finish her sentence. "That was ages ago, Kit, geez."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Fine. What is it?"

"Will you start the bug scan of the primary lock program when you get down there? I'm supposed to run it today, and…I'd just rather not be there any longer than I have to be."

"Gotcha." Logan hadn't given her any details, but he had mentioned their altercation when Kitty asked him about the two inch thick sheet of ice that was still melting off of John's cell when she took him his dinner that night. "Yeah, it's no problem."

"Thanks, Kitty. You're a lifesaver." He gave her a peck on the cheek and was on his way.

John was asleep when she reached his cell, or so he wanted her to think; Kitty was willing to bet he was pretending. She left his tray on the tiny counter opposite his cot and slipped carefully through the door to start Bobby's scan.

Kitty was so intent on keeping her senses attuned to their captive and tightening the scan parameters (_I should so be doing this instead of Bobby_) that she didn't notice anything amiss until rough hands grabbed her arm and the back of her shirt and hurled her towards the cell door. Instinctively Kitty phased, passing through the door and-she realized a second too late-the circuitry that controlled the door locks.

By the time Kitty had risen back out of the floor, Rogue had yanked open the door to confront John, who was on his feet in a slight defensive crouch. "You're a goddamn liar," Rogue hissed. Before Kitty could react John had lunged for the only person standing between him and the outside world, and Rogue had met his advance with a well placed right hook.

"_That_ is for bein' a sonovabitch," she yelled as he reeled backwards, stepping forward to backhand him across his right cheek, "_that_ is for tellin' my boyfriend I'm a whore, and _this_-" her blows had knocked him off balance, and as he toppled over she nailed him square in the ribs with a vicious kick- "is for even _implyin'_ that I'd touch you, with or without my powers." Though her target lay crumpled on the floor, her anger didn't seem to have subsided. "C'mon, _traitor_. You wanted a fight, didn't you?"

"Rogue, stop!" After being frozen in place with shock at what was happening in front of her, Kitty stepped forward to try and restrain Rogue from doing any more damage, but she stopped when angry eyes glared at her from behind disheveled white and brown hair. Instead she dropped to her knees next to John to assess his injuries.

Logan's heavy footfalls sounded seconds later, and when he saw that Kitty was tending to John, he wrapped a hand around Rogue's upper arm and hauled her out of the cell, with minimal protest from the perpetrator.

After they had left John strained to pull himself into a sitting position, waving Kitty's hands away from the bruises that were becoming apparent on his face. Swiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he cringed and then laughed at the smear of blood on his knuckles.

"Didn't think she had it in her," he managed to choke out, still trying to pull the wind back into his lungs after it had been evacuated by the steel toe of Rogue's boot. The smile on his face was as close to mirth as his mouth had ever been. "Guess we know who wears the pants in that relationship."

His flippancy made Kitty grimace with disgust as she helped John to his feet and guided him towards his cot.

XXXX

"What the hell was that all about?" Logan snarled as he plopped her down in a chair in his office.

Rogue stared him straight in the eye, refusing to feel shame. "I was just givin' him what he deserved."

"We've got Fuzzy trying to keep the heat off us in the White House and a government agent _on the property_. I don't think you understand what exactly is going on here, Marie." He paced in front of her like a nervous animal, something she'd never associated with him before.

"I understand that we've got one of Magneto's henchmen locked in the basement, and everyone keeps treatin' him like some glass doll, fallin' all over themselves to try and prove he isn't so bad."

The spite in her voice made Logan stop his pacing. "What's this really about?"

His sudden concern set her off kilter, and the steel in her eyes wavered. "What d'you mean?"

"I mean I didn't think you were all that big on vigilante justice."

"I learned from the best." She regretted it as soon as she'd said it-the curtain of indifference came crashing down over Logan's face, and he turned to leave the office.

"Get in your room and stay there until you hear different. I've got to talk to Ororo about disciplinary action."

"Disciplinary action?" The words sounded foreign to her. "I'm bein' disciplined?"

"You think you can pull that kind of shit around here and no one's gonna say a word? Actions have consequences. Get used to it," he growled, and was gone.

"I thought you'd see my side of things," she called after him, but when a few silent moments had passed she left the office and headed back to her room with a heart heavier than she'd expected.


	9. Alienated

_As hard as he tried, Charles Xavier wasn't able to save all the souls he brought to his school. There were many that rejected his teachings and sought more extreme solutions to the problems we all faced as mutants. John Allerdyce was one of these students. As Pyro, a member of the Brotherhood, he was a terrorist in the name of mutant rights; at Alcatraz, he fought against the X-Men, against the very same people he had once attended class with._

_It was a surreal and life-altering experience, to be pitted against someone I had known not as an opponent but as a classmate. Only a year earlier I might have gone so far as to call him a friend, though he would have denied it to his dying breath, even in those simpler times._

_We call those who wish us harm "villains," and those who protect us "heroes," and we assume that it has always been and will always be this way. But Erik Lensherr was not always a villain, and John Allerdyce was not always a terrorist. Piotr Rasputin, Robert Drake, and myself have not always been heroes. The hardest lesson I had to learn was that in life, there will be good and there will be evil, but the two will not remain constant._

_Pyro was the infamous killer, John Allerdyce was a lost boy. I could not tell you which of them was the reality, and which of them was the façade. _

Pryde, Katherine. Heroic Menace: My Days With the X-Men. Chicago: Mythical Press.

XXXX

"I brought you another ice pack," Kitty said, and John opened the one eye that wasn't almost swollen shut to peer at her standing over him. He handed her the bit of plastic and blue gel in his hand that was already becoming lukewarm and accepted the cold one she carried.

John tried to sit up, but only made it a couple of inches before the pain radiating through his torso forced him back down. "Fuck, I think she cracked a rib."

"Good," Kitty retorted. "Keep that in mind the next time you want to shoot your mouth off about someone who's taken hand-to-hand techniques with Logan." Her comment made him laugh, which led to a dry cough and another spasm of pain. "Here, I have a couple more painkillers for you, too." She helped him to a sitting position and he took the pills with a swallow of water.

"Thanks," he muttered as he settled back onto his pillow. "Think you could get me a handle of vodka to wash them down with?"

"Sorry, no." She paused and pressed her lips together. "Is there anything else you'd want, though? Like…to pass the time?"

He was silent for a while, long enough that Kitty thought maybe the drugs had put him under, but he spoke up just as she was preparing to leave. "A chess set."

"A chess set?" The incredulity in her voice set him on edge. "You play chess?"

"Yeah, I play chess. Shows what you know about me, huh?"

"Well, excuse me for losing track of what you do and don't do while you were off doing your terrorist thing. I didn't even know you knew how to play anything that didn't involve a d-pad and a fatality combo."

"Settle down, Kitty-cat." The painkillers had taken some of the edge off his voice. "Magneto taught me how. Said it would help teach me strategy and restraint." He spoke the last three words in a mocking impression of the older man's voice. "Like I don't know anything about restraint."

"You _don't_ know anything about it, John."

He lifted the icepack a couple of inches to glare at her with his uninjured eye. "I made it through two and a half years here without killing anyone. You tell me that's not restraint."

"Fine. Chess set. Whatever." She rolled her eyes again, an expression that was becoming more familiar with every visit to John's cell. "You going to play against yourself?"

"Nope." Even with the icepack concealing his features, Kitty could feel the smug look in his eyes. "I'm gonna teach you to play."

XXXX

"Open the door, Rogue." Bobby rapped on the door again, then tried the knob when he got no response. Locked. "Rogue, if you don't let me in I'm gonna go get Kitty to phase me through it, so you might as well-"

The door was yanked open from the other side, revealing his ashen-faced girlfriend. He waited for the barrage of self-righteousness, the demands to be left alone, but instead she retreated from him and flopped back onto the bed on her stomach. "If you're here to tell me that was a stupid thing to do, I already know."

Bobby closed the door behind him and sat next to her, being careful not to sit too close. "Then why'd you do it?"

"Would you believe me if I said it seemed like a good idea at the time?" she mumbled, her face pushed into the quilt.

"Not really. I used to feel like I could understand you, but lately…" he let his words trail off.

There was a sob in the back of her throat, but she buried it under a sharp retort as she sat up to face him. "Lately, what? I'm different? I've _changed_? Well guess what, Bobby, I have." The corners of her mouth twitched with tears, but she twisted them into a scowl.

Ice blue eyes pierced her with a wounded stare. "Why are you so mad at me?"

The question stopped her dead, blank eyes blinking as all the rage and frustration drained out of her body.

"I don't know," she whispered.

A knock at the door made both of them jump, and they looked up as it opened just enough for Storm to lean into the room to address Rogue.

"We're prepared to speak with you now," she said, glancing between the young couple, "in the office, when you're ready."

"Can Bobby come?" Rogue blurted the words before Storm could shut the door, and both her teacher and her boyfriend looked at her in surprise. After a moment of thoughtful silence, Ororo nodded her head and exited the room.

Feeling like a little girl who'd been sent to the principal's office, Rogue let herself be pulled off the bed, lacing her fingers through Bobby's and clutching tight as he led her out the door.

XXXX


	10. Displaced

It hadn't taken Kitty long to procure a chess set for John, but her first lesson would have to come another day-it was time for another session with Dr. Frost. He was setting up the pieces when she arrived at his cell.

"A hobby will be good for you," Emma remarked, reaching out to pluck a piece off the board, one of the queens. She held it up a few inches in front of her nose, studying it. "I adore chess." The bit of white molded plastic seemed to pass muster with her, and she placed it back in its position. "Of course, it's much easier to play when you know your opponents' strategy before they do."

"That's not very fair," John said, realizing as the words left his mouth that he really had no right to be spouting off about fairness, even for a board game.

"Of course not, but losing isn't very much fun, is it, John?" The tight white Capri pants she wore hugged her thighs as she sat down with notepad and tape recorder in hand. "I imagine you prefer to be on the winning team."

"Oh yeah, that's me, just jumping ship to go join the winning team." He plopped down on his cot and glared at her. "I thought you were supposed to stay objective, or something."

"I was making an observation, based on the time I've spent with you." She tilted her head, raised an eyebrow. "Now would be a good time to explore why you 'jumped ship', as you put it."

"Jesus, you shrinks and your head games." John shook his head with disgust at the trap he had set for himself. "Why don't you just get in there and find out what you want to know?" he asked, jabbing a finger against his temple. "You don't seem to care about reading people's minds without them knowing."

"Because to find out what I need to know, I would have to go a lot deeper than your thoughts on Ms. Munroe's hair or whether you want to incinerate Bobby to death, or just shoot him and be done with it." She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'd have to go deeper than you're willing to go yourself, and for me to do it without your cooperation would be quite painful."

The smart remarks burned behind his tongue, but the look in Emma's eyes made him bite them back. "Shouldn't you turn on that tape recorder?"

"It's been on since I walked in, John." This time her smile felt more genuine. "Shall we get back to business, then?"

XXXX

_FILE #: V0000279978_

_DESCRIPTION: Video transcript of footage from an 8mm cassette tape found amongst Robert Drake's personal effects._

_NOTES: Individuals filmed have been identified as Robert Drake, codename "Iceman", and Marie D'Ancanto, codename "Rogue". While the cassette appeared to be in good condition, a portion of audio could not be recovered during format conversion. This seems to be unique to this section of tape, as audio was lifted and converted with no difficulty from the remaining 78 minutes of footage. Cassette is currently being examined by Media Recovery for signs of tampering._

(Video starts with stationary footage of a wood paneled door. Door opens to reveal MARIE D'ANCANTO sitting on a bed, reading a book.)

Voice of ROBERT DRAKE: _(very serious)_ Seven forty-two p.m., March twenty-fifth, my senior year. The girl's dorms. Our scene opens with a shot of the most beautiful woman in the world, sitting on her bed, reading what must be an absolutely fascinating book.

(MARIE does not look up, but she smiles. The camera zooms in on her face until it loses focus, then zooms back out so her face just fills the frame. She tries to ignore the camera, which zooms out further to reveal the rest of her, but finally drops the book on the bed.)

MARIE: _(exasperated) _Bobby. I told ya I didn't wanna be part of your video scrapbook thing.

Voice of ROBERT: But how could I make a video scrapbook and not include my girlfriend? You're one of the only things I want to remember about this place forever. (The camera jostles around for a moment, and then is set on an elevated surface, presumably a dresser. ROBERT then joins MARIE on the bed, putting an arm around her.) C'mon, Rogue. Do it for posterity. (MARIE rolls her eyes, then looks at the camera.)

MARIE: My name is Rogue, it is also my senior year, and my boyfriend is one of the most obnoxious, annoying people on the face of this planet. (She looks over her right shoulder at ROBERT and smiles.) But for some reason I love him anyway.

ROBERT: _(looks at the camera)_ Pretty soon, me and this incredible girl over here are gonna be superheroes. And we're gonna be the best damn supe-

_**Audio could not be recovered from **_**00:05:33.000**_** to**_**00:11:45.000**

(ROBERT continues to talk to the camera, until MARIE hits him on the arm. He flinches, laughing, and she attempts to push him off the bed but is caught by the wrists. She admonishes him further, but stops talking when he leans forward to rest his forehead against the top of her head. ROBERT says something that makes her smile.)

Voice from outside: _(audio cuts back in)_ -na do it, at least close the door.

Second voice: He's got the video camera in there! I didn't know you were kinky like that, Drake!

ROBERT: _(looking past the camera)_ You guys have three seconds to get outta here before I freeze you both to the wall! One! Two!

Voice fading down the hall: I'm telling Storm that you're making a porno!

(ROBERT jumps off the bed and bumps into the dresser as he runs out of the room, knocking the camera to the floor on its side. MARIE gets up off the bed and walks over to the camera, then reaches down and the screen goes black.)

_**Footage ends **_**00:23:28.000**

XXXX

The sofa Rogue sat on in Storm's office held plenty of memories for her. It was the same sofa she'd sat on, stiff and terrified, when she'd first been brought to the school; the cushions were the same ones she'd wept into when they returned home without Dr. Grey. Now she clutched Bobby's fingers with a white-knuckled grip as she watched her superiors arrange themselves in the room with a vague air of discomfort. Logan rooted himself by the desk, crossing his arms and refusing to meet anyone's eyes.

"I must really be in for it, huh?" Rogue managed to choke out, but the quaver in her voice deflated any levity in the weak joke.

"We want you to understand, Rogue, that while we started out discussing a course of disciplinary action for you, our final decision was based not on a degree of punishment but instead for your own safety." Storm sat opposite her and leaned in close, reaching out to take the hand that wasn't entwined with Bobby's. "It's also only temporary."

"You're going back to your parents," Logan growled, his voice flat and gruff, and Storm glared back at him.

It took several minutes for Rogue to comprehend what had just been said to her, and when she finally grasped the meaning behind Logan's words her first reaction was to laugh out loud. "That's a joke, right?" Looking back and forth between her instructors, she waited for one of them to crack a smile. "I mean, you can't be serious," she stammered. "This is my _home_."

"It's only on a temporary basis, while the investigation is ongoing," Storm continued. "You know you'll always be welcome here-"

"But I'm not welcome here right now." Releasing Bobby's hand, Rogue stood to face Logan. "This is your idea of disciplinary action? Getting rid of me altogether? Sending me back to people who hate me for what I am?"

His face didn't change. "You've proven to us that we can't trust you to stay out of things."

Storm stood to cut Rogue off before she could make a rebuttal. "Our number one concern here is your well being, Rogue, and with circumstances being the way they are we don't feel that this is a safe place for you to be right now."

"But the rest of the three hundred and twenty five students here are just fine?" Her hands clenched, and without the gloves her palms felt the unfamiliar bite of fingernails digging into bare skin. "I don't see you sending anybody else home."

"Most of the other students don't have a home to go back to," Storm reminded her gently. "For them, this is still the safest place to be. For themselves and for everyone around them. I know you understand that."

The admonishment stung. "Don't you understand that I can't go back? I almost killed somebody in a small town where 'mutant' is still a dirty word, and you think I'll be safe there?" Her voice began to rise as panic set in.

"You don't need to worry about that, Rogue." A hint of exasperation was beginning to find its way into Ms. Munroe's voice. "Dr. Frost has agreed to help us out in that respect. Your parents only told people that you'd run away, and without your powers there's no need for them to think that you might pose any sort of danger-"

Finally Bobby spoke. "So Dr. Frost is going to brainwash them into forgetting that Rogue's a mutant?" He looked back and forth between Logan and Storm, brow furrowed. "Isn't that unethical?"

His words sparked a moment of silence before everyone began talking at once, each trying to be heard over everybody else. "I can't believe you'd just..." "It's the simplest solution..." "...really think the Professor would agree with..."

"HEY." The single syllable from Logan silenced the cacophony. "This ain't a democracy. Go pack up, you're leaving tomorrow."

Tears welling in her eyes again, Rogue stalked out of the room, Bobby scrambling to follow. Storm put a hand to her head and rubbed her temples. "Do you really think that was the best way to handle things? With commands?"

"Hey, I didn't see you stepping up to the plate. And it was your idea, to begin with." Logan picked up his jacket off the back of Storm's chair and headed for the door. "I was all for making her swab the deck for a few weeks."

Alone in the office that still didn't feel like hers, Ororo Munroe addressed the desk as though it could respond to her lamentations. "I don't know how you did it. And I don't know how to do it. How can I be strong enough for everyone?"

There was no response, just a cold glare off the polished wood.


	11. Interlude 1

All right, readers. Things are getting rather heavy, aren't they? First, let me thank everyone so far who has read and reviewed-I'm so glad that y'all are enjoying things! The feedback I'm getting is awesome, and is definitely helping me as things evolve in my mind.

Now, to lighten things up a bit, I'm posting an "alternate ending" to chapter 9, written by my dear friend Mike when I asked him to look it over. He goes by Desrever over on The ElJay. Drop him a line sometime and tell him he's the bestest.

Much Love!

Vi

XXXX

So when they got in the room… Storm and Shadowcat were saying "Hey let's get in the hot tub, Rogue." And they all rubbed lotion on each other and rogue too. And Iceman was like "Hey…. I'm made of ice sometimes and a hot tub would be awesome to warm me off" he said with a gleam of hope in his eye. He said "warm me off" because it was like "cool me off" but for heat. He always did shit like that and it kind of got on everyone's nerves. Like "Hey guys, wanna come to my place and lukewarm out?" instead of chill out. Rogue was like "UGH! Bobby that was so lame. I don't want you here anymore." And Iceman started crying and said "OH YEAH WELL FUCK YOU" and went away somewhere else. So they were putting on sunscreen and lathering up each others' fit bodies and giggling a whole lot.

Meanwhile Pyro died because he choked on a chess piece. Thus wrapping up all loose ends with him.

So then Wolverine was working out in the danger room. But he's secretly scared of robots because of an incident when he was a child involving robots and molestation. So he had the danger room generate a treadmill. He left after a good workout and got a beer. He opened it with his claws. Then He was sitting at the graveyard conveniently located on the back patio when the girl he had a crush on, this guy he didn't really like, and a bald guy lived now. "Man…. I'm ultra-bummed out that you guys are gone now." But then he decided to make a difference and be less of a dick to everyone. And he was really nice to everyone after that

Then everything got really blurry and pixilated. And when everything got clear again he was in the danger room. "Wha?" He said. He looked up into the window thing that the control room is where people can look at you fight stuff in. And all his fallen comrades were there. In there old school 90's uniforms. Because those were awesome.

"What is happening?" Said Wolverine. "With a slight laugh, Professor X said "Sorry, Logan… but we put you through this simulation to take the edge off of your sharp personality. Everyone was getting upset." Wolverine A.K.A. Logan laughed and said "Well, boy is MY face red. How much of this was made up?" Jean replied "Everything after the first movie." Gambit was there and said "Looks like music isn't the only thing that can soothe the savage beast, mon ami" He said with a wise look in his eyes. Just then Henry McCoy popped up out of fucking no where and said "Did somebody say my name?" They all laughed and simultaneously said "OH, BEAST!" then freeze-frame and roll credits.

P.S. Pyro really did die by choking on a chess piece.

THE END

(but not really)

Fear not, we'll be returning to your regularly scheduled programming with the next chapter. :)


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